Fmr. Rochester Judge Discusses City Council Race, Struggles On Radio

From the Morning Memo:

As she has often been known to do, former Rochester City Court Judge Leticia Astacio spoke very candidly on conservative talk radio host Bob Lonsberry’s program yesterday.

The two discussed a number of topics, including her current attempt to run for the City Council, the circumstances surrounding her drunk driving conviction and her upcoming trial for illegally attempting to purchase a shotgun while on probation.

Astacio said even if she is convicted of the felony charge, she does not believe it would have any bearing on the Council race.

She also said she’s not entertaining any plea deals to lower the crime of which she’s accused to a misdemeanor, and doesn’t believe prosecutors can prove she was actually trying to buy a firearm.

Despite her legal predicament, she said petitioning for Council is going well and she enjoys a lot of support from the community, and noted she’s not the first person to be convicted of a crime or feel wronged by the judicial system.

“The reality of the situation is that government is supposed to be by the people for the people, and although some people don’t like me, I resonate with a lot of people as being a normal person,” she said.

Lonsberry also asked Astacio if she had ever explored whether she had a substance abuse problem. She admitted she was drinking heavily at the time of her DWI arrest, which led to her entering – and successfully completing – a substance abuse program, even though she said she was told she didn’t need it.

Rather than alcoholism, Astacio said, it was situational depression that drove her to drink. The conviction ultimately cost her judgeship.

Astacio said she remains on probation and is prohibited from drinking alcohol. However, she said, the regular random testing has ceased since she left office.

This entry was posted by Ryan Whalen on March 14, 2019 at 5:45 am, and is filed under 2019. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.